Thursday, January 21, 2010

I volunteered to be one of the 'victim'(research subject) for my 4th year seniors SSM(research) under Surgical Department. I have to give them my precious blood twice (at least). One taken without any compression on your arm(in normal blood taking a light pressure have to be appiled to make the blood vessel vissible), another one with a compression of 10 mmHg less than your systolic BP within 3minutes.

When i surrender my arm to the staff nurse( because the doctor room are full with students), they says my vein is quite fine & not really visible...and that means...there is a possiblity of a few series of attempts to get my precious blood.

I was reffered to a doctor next door...2nd poke by green(medium size) needle..not successful, he insert it to another site & make it deeper...it is much more painfull than the blue needle

Still...NO success

the classic needle & syringe..

He move to my other arm, put on the cuff and did the 3rd poke...with the green needle..finally, the red blood appears....I'm the happiest person in the room of course (",)..

Reminder, blood taking with the pressure on(due to the research objective) was the most painful of all- A VERY SHARP PAIN

Last, for the control blood, he have to poke me again(the 4th poke) to get my blood without any pressure on. This time the doctor have to choose the vein from on my hand. I never let anyone practise taking blood on my hand before (logically because it is more painful than the arm). I persuade the doctor to use the smaller needle instead..the blue needle.

Finally, it was a success. However, the blood comes out only drop by drop..It tooks us sometime to get about 1 ml of my blood from that..It was the least painful of all(isn't it a good way to end the misery..hehe)

At the end, I was rewarded with a bottle of mineral water & a delicious packed nasi lemak ayam.

Regardless all, if i was needed again, i won't hesistate to help. Hopefully, their research found some good & benificial findings. Therefore, all the pain is worth it.

Looking from the positive angle, I learn to experience the feeling of pain by different size of needle on different sites of my arm.EMPHATY!! It is important to at least know how it feel because poking people is doctors job everyday a ward. I myself did this procedure to patients during my practical at wards. SOmetimes i did more than one attempt to a patient. And so now I know the feeling. Thus, I won't attempt more than twice as long as i'm a medical student. Unless, i really have to do it more than that...

Lesson of the day which i can think of...1. Don't stop volunteering as long as you are sincere with it...2. Be emphaty but not symphaty3. NO pain NO gain!!4. Patience is the key to success.5. Don't give up and try again...

In conclusion,the results is 4 pokes on my hand & arm.(what an exaggeration?? Patients have to deal with their blood taken everyday..but i'm making it a big deal after a series of blood taking in a day..hehe..)

Monday, January 11, 2010

Anugerah Juara Lagu fever just cured... I'm glad that all my favourite songs win the prizes.I love music...Maybe its the influence from my passion on playing instruments (piano & violin).

Whenever i hear a song i will concentrate on the music more and ignore the lyrics. Not until a couple years ago, a friend changed me to appreciate the lyrics also.

At the same time, the movie 'Music & lyric' came out played by Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. It makes me changed my perception on songs. To give a good impact to the listener, both music & lyrics have to be good. This is because, it have to be appreciated and understand altogather.

After i did that i realise that not all songs with good musics have nice lyrics. Some even have some bad and indecent meaning.

Last weekend during UKM Medical Student Society aka PERSIAP 35 years celebration Dinner, i played piano as a backup for my friend who sang solo. Eventhough its a nasyeed (islamic song), i think the song can be applied to anyone who's in sadness and feel loss. It is suitable for anyone who believes and put trust in god.

I was given the task a week earlier, within the day, i manage to play the whole song. It have a beautiful music & lyrics..

Insyaallah ( With god's willing)by Maher ZAin

Everytime you feel like you cannot go onYou feel so lostThat your so aloneAll you is see is nightAnd darkness all aroundYou feel so helplessYou can`t see which way to goDon`t despair and never loose hopeCause Allah is always by your side

Insya Allah3xInsya Allah you`ll find your way

Everytime you can make one more mistakeYou feel you can`t repentAnd that its way too lateYour`re so confused,wrong decisions you have madeHaunt your mind and your heart is full of shame

Another favourite song of my is a theme song of a box office Indonesian Movie, Laskar Pelangi. It's about someone trying to persue his dream with enthusiasm and high spirit believing that one day he /she will prevail.

At the same time, the song keep reminding the listener to appreciate life eventhough life is hard. Lif is indeed WONDERFUL & MEANINGFUL Isn't it a good motivational song??

Becoming a part of PERSIAP committee family..This picture was taken after the voting & announcement with the previous committee during the PERSIAP 35th Annual Grand Meeting.Thanks for the vote and trust on me. An extra task and responsibility that will be handle with effort and diligence(A promise to myself..hehe)

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Its been a while i take my break from writing. Time is the most precious and valueable thing right now. However, since i have something i want to share i'll spend some of my time for this post.

This post is about what i've experienced from a patient I've met during my frist week at internal medicine ward..

One of clinical student's routine in the ward is talk to patient and gain their history of their disease/problem (a.k.a. history taking/clerking). So, i came across this patient, a middle age Malay gentleman. Generally he does not look ill or depressed.

He actually suffers from a mild stroke..and some other common stroke patients background history: Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia,history of chronic smoking..

The conversation about his illness is about 15 minutes but he talks about his insight and hopes on us future doctors and doctors for nearly an hour.hehe..imagine that..

Lesson 1 : Never do something to a patient without telling them what you are doing and things that the patient can anticipate...

Only recently, the ethical stduies is included in the medical school syllybus. The medical personnel who treat the Pak Cik fails to give proper 'informed consent'. That is the among the first thing to do which is provide an adequate infromation and get agreement from patient in anything you want to do to them.

What happen to him was he was injected with TB antigen for Mantoux test to see the presence of Tuberculosis. He was not informed on the effect which there will be a small rash at the side of injection and it can cause itchiness. What happen to him was, he scratch the injected site due to the itchiness and causing him to get a big swollen bump there. It happen to him years ago when he was admitted for TB at a governemnt hospital in our country.

Positive result of Mantoux test...it is only a temporary effect.. (Extra info: matoux test is a method to support the TB diagnosis. It is injected intradermally and the cell mediated response is within 48-72 hours is recorded. The response is usually shown as rash. COmmon Side effects is itchiness.Positive result is when the induration is >10mm(in people with moderate risk factor and high prevelance country).Induration is palpable raised hardened area of the skin

Lesson 2 : when someone is physically sick, they'll need more attention from their closed one(family,spouse& closed friends). If not, pshycologically the will get sick too..He did mention that when he is warded, he feels lonely when nobody he knows around. When his children visit him, they didn't bother to talk to him or entertain him. It makes him feels sad and become a burden. He later inform his family members and they started to paying attention to him and visit often. it makes him feel happy and accept his stay at hospital.

My postulation is when someone is sick, the coping mechanism is also disturb. Therefore, it is helpful when there is something that can trigger your coping mechanism to become well and eventually that person will motivated to recover.

That is why people always bring something when they visit a sick person. Isn't it common to see a Get Well Soon card send with a basket full of fruits or a bouquet of flower???

This e-card was taken from http://www.123greetings.com/aff-bin/card/464/101594

Pshycological health can influence the major portion of our physical health.

However, the most important support is from the people you love..Money can't by happiness, Money can't buy love, Money can't buy health as well.

It is easily to get bored to be hospitalised.Therefore, pshycological health is easily affected also. It is much more worst because the is stay beacuse of our illness and we cannot do anything. They have to be independent and have to rely and trust on the medical personnels.The question is, are we capable enough to be trust on??